Raiding question(s)

[Ninster]

While I'm stuck watching the raiding antics of my free company from afar, I'm wondering more and more to what extent it takes to make a clear, from the individual standpoint.

There's number crunching for best-in-slot pieces, there's rotation guides, there's party composition, etc. that all goes into helping with clears, but as an individual, just how much does this matter?

How far off best-in-slot can someone be before we reach "carry" levels? Say someone gets all 240 lore gear + 230 lore ring (because no duplicates), just how far off is this from best-in-slot and just how far off is this from raid-ready?

On rotation: If 100% is robot-perfect rotation, ~95-99% human-perfect rotation, and 90% is "It's midnight and I oopsied here with a cooldown" or "my finger slipped" or whatever, just how much of these is the difference between clear and wipe?

Party composition: I know there's a significant effect on the limit break gauge as well as the interaction between buffs and debuffs, but how much of this can we go loose with before clearing and wiping?

And ultimately, how much does all of this together, along with mechanic execution, contribute to wipes and clears?

I realize I'm kind of asking about something that's kind of broad, but just to put things personally: I'm fairly dedicated to gearing up and using Weeping City tokens to upgrade my lore gear each week, although I don't have much reason to. But am I actually hurting myself by not taking certain Weeping City pieces over augmenting my lore gear? Likewise, my rotations are prone to certain odd points where I have cooldowns or abilities that I delay in using either because of hotbar positioning or, admittedly, just not paying enough attention. About the only thing I can really have any kind of pride in is I have a pretty good grasp on mechanics and the order they happen in, and passing them reliably. Even in learning I tend to retain what I'm able to learn and make note of any mechanical mistakes I've made.

Also, my choice of General discussion over DPS forums (since I main dps classes) is I'm considering that another role or job may be a better fit for me and that I'm just beating my head against a wall worrying about this stuff.

[SpookyGhost]

The most helpful tip I can give is to wait until next patch when ilvl is reset before worrying about gear.

RE: Rotation -> Depends on the fight, the more tightly tuned DPS wise the more you're going to need to perfect your rotation. A3S early prog is a solid example of requiring inhuman perfection to accomplish, but our current tier is significantly more lax and allows for much more room for error.

RE: Party comp -> This largely comes down to where your LB fits into the fight and how much of that LB do you need. A8S is an example of a fight where timing your LBs can make things significantly easier for your group in a few instances, and it's possible that doubling up might push that LB back or make it an LB1 instead of a 2 (or 2 instead of a 3). So, like rotation, it's fight dependent whether it'll actually matter.

For raiding you don't actually need to be amazing at your job, just competent. Being able to communicate, listen, and react are massively more important than skyrocketing your DPS (though being able to do both is what makes a great raider). Raiding isn't actually all that difficult unless you're leading the group, if you're just a member then you just have to show up on time and bother to try.

[Canadane]

Say someone gets all 240 lore gear + 230 lore ring (because no duplicates), just how far off is this from best-in-slot and just how far off is this from raid-ready?

They'd have been raid ready at an average of 20 levels ago.

[Brannigan]

The difference for most classes between best in slot and the free lore upgrade gear is going to be like at most 5-8% damage. Half of the gear each class wants is lore gear anyway. As for "raid ready," that would be roughly item level 220. If you're talking about the next raid, then none of the gear you're getting now will help you because easy mode drops and crafted gear will be higher ilvl for some dumb reason - so if you're not trying to enter and clear Midas before 2.4, don't bother getting any non-glamour gear this patch.

So about Midas and raiding in general - how bad does someone's gear need to be for them to be a carry? Not enough accuracy to hit the boss 100% or not enough HP to live through mechanics. It's REALLY hard to gear incorrectly in this game. Parry is trash, but other than that speed/det/crit all increase your damage. Crit might be better, but in general it's not going to be by enough to make a difference for those who aren't going for world first clears. Unless you're like 400 accuracy over cap I wouldn't worry about it.

One thing I'd say is that if someone has a piece of gear that is lower item level than the stuff available on the market board (any piece of armor under 220 this patch, basically) then they are not trying and will probably be a detriment to the group, even not considering their low gear level. Also, not having materia melded to gear you intend to raid in is just lazy. Doesn't have to be tier Vs. The extra VIT on the right side helps a lot.

Rotation and DPS levels are going to vary by fight and what mechanics you need to do. If you're failing DPS checks as a group then either someone is slacking or your tactics are incorrect. Your gear level dictates how much breathing room you have for this (though at this point you can't get much more for Midas). Some fights are really forgiving DPS-wise, like Ratfinx and the blaster/swindler/whatever fight. Others are pretty easy overall but require high burst phases where an individual or the party need to be performing decently. Examples of that would be the lightning chamber on a7s, the teraflare phase of Bahamut Prime (at first anyway), and maybe like Nael. The last group of fights are the ball busters that are just mean and overtuned like Living Liquid, Manipulator, and (to a lesser extent) Brute Justice. For these, you'll need to be hitting your rotation pretty well while also taking into account the flow of the fight - sometimes it is better to save cooldowns when a burst phase is coming soon.

Party composition is more important for early clears when it's harder just to survive stuff and beat enrage timers. At this point you can safely leave stuff like dragon kick at home. However, those buffs/debuffs will still allow you to do stupid stuff like recovering from a 6 stack a7s.

What I'd suggest is getting your rotation into muscle memory. Change up your hotbar position if it helps you notice your cooldowns more. Grab a parser, go do some content you're completely comfortable on (a primal or something) and just try to max out on that fight completely. Once you're doing your rotation in your sleep, it becomes a lot easier to focus on new mechanics and being in the right position.

[FunkyBunch]

SNIP.

Don't forget some of the Weeping City pieces are better than the augmented Lore pieces even with the lower iLvl (NIN Gloves I'm looking at you). So don't just ignore WC loot to get the maximum iLvl as you could be marginally handicapping yourself.
And some of the Lore pieces like the NIN rings are better as both a regular Lore and augmented Lore than as a Midan if you can get enough accuracy from food or melds.

[Singularity]

About the only thing I can really have any kind of pride in is I have a pretty good grasp on mechanics and the order they happen in, and passing them reliably.

Well that's a good start, because mis-executed mechanics are by a wide margin the most common cause of wipes.

[Bourne_Endeavor]

A good basis to determining BiS is clicking on the Weight option on Ariyala's site.. This isn't always a perfect rendition as you may need to swap around gear based on your stat needs, but helpful nonetheless. Once you reach those stat caps, it's all a matter of knowing the mechanics enough to maintain your DPS. Higher gear or better melds only offers you more breathing room. For instance, you'll see some people meld Vitality on their accessories if they don't yet have 230 on their right side. You don't technically need it until A8S, however you will have play near to perfection because your HP pool won't allow for mistakes. Best thing to do is hit the necessary stat caps and practice your rotation. Brannigan summed it all up well. While stats do certainly make a difference, you knowing your job well will come ahead, especially in mechanic heavy content like Midas Savage.